Rambo 3 review - Sega Megadrive

"Da war's over fa me - I ain't gonna fight no more!" When these words come from Rambo, you can bet your bottom dollar that extreme violence is about to be committed. This game casts you as the mumbling monosyllabic maestro of murder and mayhem, entering Afghanistan to rescue his chum Colonel Trautman, and killing the entire soviet army as an afterthought.

Of course, it would be ridiculous to think that an unarmed man could do all this - so Rambo is tooled up with the latest in military hardware. This amounts to a machine gun, knife, and bow. These are selectable during each multidirectionally scrolling level, as are the time bombs that you need to blow up trucks and other sundry enemy emplacements.

The five levels are shown from an overhead viewpoint, but between some levels is a 3D shoot-out, pitting Rambo against a large piece of enemy artillery, such as a helicopter and tank, similar to Operation Wolf.

Non-stop genocide is guaranteed, so start practicing those grunts and build up that body count!

What the Mean Machines staff thought

Not being a huge fan of the jingoistic films, I wasn't expecting much from this game. Although it's not stunning, it's not bad either. I found it in parts similar to Ikari Warriors or even Commando, with its eight-way scrolling and blobby bullets. The additional stages - like the helicopter attack - add a great deal to the game, and the intro screens are excellent. The difficulty is pitched just about right, and I was impressed by the general feel of the game. It takes a while to learn how to use the different weapons, but once you've mastered them you'll be stompin' Commie ass all over the shop!

Rambo III features loads of dead bodies, tons of explosions and no dialogue - just like the film in fact! The main sprite is suitably Ramboesque, and the backgrounds and other sprites are excellent. The music and crunchy sound effects are also of a very high standard - especially on level two (plug in your headphones and listen that amazing background music). The game itself isn't too difficult, and most players should be able to complete it within a week or so. Fortunately there are multiple difficulty levels to make the game more challenging and give a little more lasting appeal. Well worth a look if you're into military shoot 'em ups - or as Rambo would say, "mmgh rbll mrsh frbsh".